Cavs notebook: Kyrie Irving misses second straight game

Sunday

Point guard Kyrie Irving sat his second straight game Sunday because of a left knee contusion he suffered late in the Christmas Day loss in Miami.

Before the Cavaliers lost 103-80 to Detroit on Sunday, head coach David Blatt said Irving still is dealing with some soreness. Asked if he expects Irving to play Tuesday night in Atlanta, Blatt said, “We hope so.”

Matthew Dellavedova started for the second straight game in Irving’s place.

“What we ask of Matty is to help the team function and flow, and then to be himself at the defensive end with his grit and his work ethic, and to contribute in a way that he normally contributes,” Blatt said. “Now as a starter and with vastly increased minutes he really has to be consistent. … That’s all we’re asking from him. We’re not asking him to replace Kyrie because that’s not the type of player that he is.”

Dellavedova shot just 1-for-5 on Sunday but totaled six assists.

Irving’s absence seems to have an effect on LeBron James. For the season, James is shooting better than 50 percent with Irving on the floor and less than 40 with him not out there.

On Sunday, James was 5-for-19 from the floor and committed seven turnovers.

“Sometimes he misses and sometimes he doesn’t. You do as good a job as you can, and that’s what it comes down to,” Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I’ve had LeBron hit me for 50 (points), so I’ve got no answers on how to play him. I haven’t seen a guy in the league who can lock him down. He had a bad night. I though our guys didn’t give him stuff easy and I thought they worked, but you don’t lock him down. He missed tonight, thank God.”

LACKING WILDNESS

Sunday was the first home game since the Cavs lost starting center Anderson Varejao for the season to an Achilles tear.

“That was a tough loss for us,” Blatt said, “… for a number of reasons on a number of different levels: The player that he is, the personality that he is on a daily basis, the experience that he has, and the fact that we miss his smiling face around every day. That has an effect, too.”

ROLL IT

Shawn Marion rolled his left ankle while trying to take off for a layup in Sunday’s second quarter. Marion was helped to the locker room. He returned in the second half and played 15 minutes overall. He walked with a slight limp as he left the arena.

MATCH GAME

Blatt and James complimented Kevin Love for the way he accepted sitting the entire fourth quarter of Friday’s win. Blatt explained the move as a way to match up with Orlando, which went small with Tobias Harris basically playing power forward.

“I didn’t feel a great defensive uplift when Kevin was not in there,” Blatt said despite the Cavs performing better on that end without Love. “I just think we played properly and we matched up really well in situation where it would have been tough for him to match up because they were playing (Harris) … at the 4 and we matched up with him.”

NUMBERS, NUMBERS, NUMBERS

A variety of career milestones were reached by Cavaliers during Friday’s win:

• James’ 29 points marked his 600th consecutive game scoring in double figures. He also became the 32nd player in NBA history to register 6,000 career assists. He is just the third player 6-foot-8 or taller to hit the mark, joining Magic Johnson (10,141) and Scottie Pippen (6,135).

• Mike Miller’s three 3-pointers pushed him past Eddie Jones for 18th on the NBA’s all-time 3-pointer list. Miller has 1,549 3s after hitting one on Sunday.

• Marion became just the eight player in league history standing 6-7 or shorter to register 10,000 career rebounds. Marion joins Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone and Kevin Garnett as the only players in league history with 17,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 1,500 steals and 1,000 blocks.

OH, THE MEMORIES

Van Gundy was asked about the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, when his Orlando Magic upset the Cavs in six games.

James’ tough 3-pointer at the buzzer saved Game 2 and prevented the top-seeded Cavs from being swept in the series. The shot often is replayed during the playoffs.

“I still remember how I should have played that play,” Van Gundy said. “I’ve been beating myself up for a little over five years on that now. Every time it comes playoff time, you’re watching TV games and there’s the shot all the time. I just want to yell at the TV, ‘We won the series!’ ”

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